"
And from the moment that the Senate had been unofficially apprised by
Nani that the terrible Interdict was already printed and would presently
be fulminated, every possible precaution of self-defense had been put in
operation throughout the dominions of Venice, with an ingenuity, a
foresight, and a celerity which the watching courts of Europe not only
viewed with amazement, but accepted as an evidence of the conscious
power and justice of the Republic. Overtures came fast from England,
from Spain, from France--every monarch wished some share in the
pacification between these courts of Rome and Venice.
Meanwhile, in Venice life went on superbly. There was no question of any
spiritual disfranchisement; these sons of the Church were not under
interdict, having committed no sin which laid them open to that charge.
Moreover, no ban had been _published_ throughout the wide extent of
their domain. Hence, for the Venetians, there was no interdict, whatever
awful anathema might be affixed to those distant doors of Saint Peter's
in Rome; with whatever voice of anger its terrors might be thundered at
the Holy See, against rulers, people, priests, and sacraments within the
doomed city--the wide waters of the lagoon laved its shores in
benediction, like a baptismal charm upon the fair front of Venice,
against which the Curse threatened impotently.
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